


Children's Stories and Rhymes of Death: Who Let These People Raise Kids, Anyways

by The_narwhals_awaken



Series: A Gallifreyan How-To [6]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Admittedly less focused than my others, Gen, Story Collection, Zagreus (Doctor Who) - Freeform, sorry if you're disappointed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27291202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_narwhals_awaken/pseuds/The_narwhals_awaken
Summary: A collection, analysis, and history of whatever Gallifreyan children's stories and rhymes I could find.
Series: A Gallifreyan How-To [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908952
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Intro and Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this one is going to be a lot different from the rest of this series, as there isn't an estimated completion date. Sorry about that! I'll be posting new entries whenever I come across a new poem or story, so feel free to point me in a direction for new ones to come! Tags will be updated as new stories are written and added. However, just because this one is incomplete doesn't mean that I won't be adding to both this series and my others!

Greetings, and welcome to Children's Stories and Rhymes of Death!

This collection was one of the hardest for us to collect, as one of the most secretive things the Time Lords have are their children, however, there were enough that were willing to rant or hum lullabies that we managed to keep up this collection. Unlike other works poking into the core of the issues with the Time Lords, this work is most definitely not complete, as our research into the tales and rhymes is still ongoing. However, we have decided to begin to make this work available, so that interest can be sparked and information can continue trickling in. If you have heard stories, feel free to send them in, and we will do our best to give them their due diligence. 

For each entry, we will provide as much text of the poem or rhyme as we can. Tunes to songs will not be provided, as there are many there. We will also include any history and any odd stories related to the poem or rhyme. Unfortunately for some of our readers, most of the stories are related to one odd character. They are quite secretive, and much of their information needed to be confirmed. Our opinion on them is wishing them luck, as they seem to be caught up in every piece of chaos that several highly capable or widespread species can generate, but we do wish that they never have to show up here.

If you have any complaints about our tales or recommendations for other interpretations, or you have other stories, please send these stories or complaints in. We’d love to have more data, and we always appreciate well-reasoned counterarguments. However, if all you are writing is to tell us that you disapprove of our life or tale choices, we will be using the letters either as virus practice or to smoke whatever needs smoking, depending on format. Repeated threats will be met with legalities. This section may be somewhat controversial, simply because there is so little data that much of our work is conjecture or commentary. If you dislike this, you do not have to consume further. Do not attempt legal action, as not only do we have the better case, but you won’t get much anyways. 

We hope you enjoy this collection, and we will keep it updating as long as we have data. 


	2. The Lullaby of Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lullaby, often sung to small children before they enter the Academy.

_ My child, I sing this as you sleep/ The secret you must always keep/ Your name, the reflection of your soul/ Once known will always do you ill. _

_ When a Time Lord’s name is revealed/ Time itself will become unsealed/ The three suns will burn no more/ Gallifrey will fall into war. _

_ Worlds will crumble into dust/ Your home will burn, and it must/ For the price the lone survivor pays/ Is our time locked up for all days. _

_ The healer can’t renew the ember/ War will call him to remember/ Friends, enemies, enemies, friends/ After which the Time War ends. _

This poem is a lullaby, although we do not have the tune. It appears to warn children not to share their True Name, as it can be used to cause great damage. Then, as many stories and songs on Gallifrey do, it segues into a prophecy, speaking of a healer, a war, and a disaster that leads to either the loss of or trapping of Gallifrey. 

The first stanza is the most common, often sung solely on its own as it makes the simpler warning, with many Kithriarchs choosing to make up their own verses. In it, it declares that the True Name of a Gallifreyan is a reflection of their soul, or more likely, their timeline. If one could know this, one would be aware of the entirety of your life, possibly even your future. Thus, they are one of the most guarded secrets of anyone’s life. True Names are only given out in marriages, and even then rarely at the actual ceremony. Couples regularly live together for decades or centuries before they exchange names, and many, especially the political matches, never do at all. Generally, the exchange is only allowed because the two have gotten close enough that they cannot look into each others’ timelines, and will not be able to misuse the information. A True Name is very difficult to forget, and can very easily be used for harm- whether coercion or discrimination is up to the assailant. 

The second stanza is the first of three connected prophecies, the themes of which are often repeated in many other sources. However, this ties in another thread from the first: the True Name of a Time Lord, which logically is more complicated and dangerous than the True Name of a normal Gallifreyan, simply due to the length of their lives and the time travel they’ve done. The implications are clear- a linear timeline doesn’t really have weak points, but one that is nonlinear has bends, kinks, knots where it is easier or harder to slip through. Travel enough and it all becomes half-healed scar tissue, hard to work around but vulnerable if you jump in, but before then there are definite spots to cause huge amounts of chaos- especially since many class trips are to major events at either end of the universe’s timeline. This provides a larger window of opportunity to interfere, and is thus why trips are generally taken only in the last half of the Chapter Academy time, where those who’ll fail generally already have. The third line is where it gets interesting- Gallifrey only has two suns, so the third may either be a sign of something else or metaphorical. The fourth line is classic, simply declaring an oncoming war. The connotations of ‘fall in’ imply that either the planet does not intend to be at war or the war escalates far too rapidly. 

The third stanza is a classic ‘doom’ prophecy. With the first line bluntly declaring that worlds, plural, will crumble, this implies that the referenced war will be large and terrible, to the point that planets themselves will fall instead of merely being laid waste like is often common in interplanetary warfare, as the destruction of a planet throws off the other planets and its star’s orbit, meaning that it’s a last resort and often either suicidal or a show of power- they can blow up a planet and escape without consequences. The second line is equally blunt, stating that Gallifrey will burn, and that it is inevitable- as with most prophecies, there is an implied ‘if’, that if the statements made earlier in the prophecy come true, if a certain event happens, then the result will happen, showing a way out- so that the lone survivor will pay the price of surviving alone. The fourth line implies that Gallifrey may only be locked in time, or have its time locked- possibly a reference to the practice of time-locking events, sealing an event chain so that people from afterwards cannot break through and alter events. Whether the survivor is positive or negative is yet to know, whether they are desperate and shut away their kin to keep them safe, taking on the job of protecting the timelines alone as a watchman; or a deadly criminal, trying to kill their own species or at least cause the most chaos. 

The fourth stanza seems to remember that this is a lullaby, more melodic than the middle two. The first two lines reference a healer, a common figure when paired with the war ending and chaos in general, a turning point but never the leader, being called to remember something. The first line also states that the healer can’t simply fix what’s going on, instead perhaps being called to amputate a diseased, necrotic limb or cut off a cyst that has grown far too large to be simply worked around- painful, yes, and often some healthy flesh is taken away simply because it was too close or contaminated, but allowing for the remainder to heal. More directly, it could imply that the old embers must finally burn out so that a new fire can be made in the ash or so that the warm ashes can bake a loaf of firepit bread. The third line implies that friends and enemies will change roles, and that many will be in one or the other, possibly even both. The fourth line is confusing, as one interpretation is that after the friends and enemies have settled down, the Time War (a war fought where both sides have access to time-travel technology and use it in combat) will end; another interpretation is that after the healer has remembered the War will end. 

Some prophecy fragments that seem to have been fulfilled seem to relate the ‘healer’ mentioned to the Doctor, a mysterious time-traveling vagabond, however, they are not the focus of this- if more keep mentioning them, we may include more data, but until then their section in the renegade herding volume will have to suffice. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm still alive! I told you that this would keep being updated, and the tradeoff between such long gaps is that you'll get monster chapters. I'm always looking for more poetry to analyze, and even stories would be lovely- they're not my first preference, but I'm looking for anything.
> 
> As always, comment and let me know what you liked! More comments keep feeding my serotonin and keep me feeling more excited, which directly correlates with the amount of writing I can get done!


	3. Zagreus

_ Zagreus sits inside your head/ Zagreus lives among the dead/ Zagreus sees you in your bed/ And eats you when you’re sleeping. _

_ Zagreus at the end of days/ Zagreus lies all other ways/ Zagreus comes when time’s a maze/ And all of history’s weeping. _

_ Zagreus taking time apart/ Zagreus fears the hero’s heart/ Zagreus seeks the final part/ The reward that he is reaping.  _

_ Zagreus sings when all is lost/ Zagreus takes all those he’s crossed/ Zagreus wins and all it costs/ The hero’s hearts he’s keeping.  _

_ Zagreus seeks the hero’s ship/ Zagreus needs the web to rip/ Zagreus sups time at a drip/ And life aside he’s sweeping.  _

_ Zagreus waits at the end of the world/ For Zagreus is the end of the world/ His time is the end of time/ And his moment time’s undoing. _

_ Zagreus sets the skies ablaze/ The stars his flame a-gleaming. _

_ Zagreus is my secret name/ Zagreus is the one to blame/ Zagreus is the Time Lord’s shame/ The beast that I’ve been keeping.  _

This poem is a nursery rhyme, with the first stanza often on its own and the last stanza often left out. Only one record held the last stanza, but its completeness held to the idea that it had simply been smothered. Like many nursery rhymes, it is meant to scare children into compliance or simply heighten terror. The subject, Zagreus, is a somewhat familiar figure across pretty much everywhere we were able to do research. 

The first stanza introduces us to our main and title character, Zagreus. It states that he sits in people’s heads, most likely a metaphor for possession. The ‘lives among the dead’ is likely to state again that full possession often leads to the deaths of the body, and within 48 hours, the body is likely to fail unless it is taken care of. The third line is meant to increase the terror felt by those who hear it, by removing the one place of almost guaranteed privacy and sight while one is vulnerable. The fourth line breaks the structure given, but ties into the third line, increasing the terror and presumably warning others that Zagreus strikes while one’s guard is down or that he cannot take over until the body is not conscious.

The second stanza is similar to many doomsday prophecies, and is echoed in many other mentions of Zagreus across the universe. The first line implies that Zagreus will be at the ‘end of days’ or the end of the world. The second line implies that no matter the path, a common thread in true doom prophecies, Zagreus will lie in wait- perhaps a figure of entropy, an unavoidable figure that cannot be permanently escaped from. The third line implies that Zagreus thrives in and lives in paradoxes or other temporal tangles, and the fourth line emphasizes the paradox line- time is often said to ‘weep’ or show signs of wishing to correct and not correct at the same time, especially when the paradox leads to a saved life. This implies that Zagreus is almost an anti-Time Lord, one who actively works against the Web of Time. 

The third stanza brings Zagreus into a more active and present role than before, as instead of a boogeyman figure he becomes a monster with a goal. The first line is a classic fear and symbol of the End Times, taking time apart. The second line is interesting, as it specifies ‘heart’, not ‘hearts’. This implies either that it means heart as in core, that Zagreus is trying to possess the hero mentioned, or that it means there is a non-Time Lord with only one heart who is also involved enough to claim the role ‘hero’. The third line states that it’s the final piece in a grand plan, perhaps bringing about the End Times and taking time apart mentioned earlier. The fourth line shows what Zagreus gains- the ‘reward’ that he is looking for, although it does not specify what the reward is. Perhaps it is the final part or hero’s heart. 

The fourth stanza brings with it a more eerie feel, starting with the claim that Zagreus will ‘sing when all is lost’, exulting in both his plan’s completion and the state the universe is in. The second line is a warning, that all those who cross him and fail will be taken- this is clearly a large warning as many cultures with lines like this are fierce and powerful, capable of at least holding their own against many things. The third line is another warning, that his victory will come at great cost to everything else. The fourth line is more ominous, the ‘hero’s hearts’ that he’s keeping are clearly a Time Lord’s, as Apalapucians, the other major binary vascular species, merely had a generic warning, likely passed down from other travelers or visitors, in their cultural history. 

The fifth stanza is the most active so far, showing what Zagreus is doing to bring his plans instead of horror or warnings. The first line references the ‘hero’ once more, clarifying that they have a vessel that Zagreus needs, perhaps for some purpose or to get something stored on it. Or perhaps it’s where the ship can take him, as that is the common use of ships. The second line is more ominous, as the Web mentioned ripping is the Web of Time, the linkage of cause to effect and stabilizer of timelines. The most common form of damage is paradoxes, but those tend to merely tangle the Web and take a long time to do lasting damage, especially with time-sensitive species taking actions to prevent or clean up such paradoxes. Ripping implies either that time-sensitive species, such as Time Lords, cannot make it there, or the damage is so big, so fast, that there’s nothing they can do. The motivation is seen in the third line, showing that Zagreus feeds on Time, and what better way to get more than to remove it from where it is tightly bound? The fourth line shows that he does not care about how much damage he does, that he will merely sweep aside anything and everything else to get what he wants. 

The sixth stanza is generally the final one in most versions, declaring that Zagreus exists and causes the end of both the Universe and Time itself, although one mention in the last line mentions the Moment, a Time Lord weapon known also as the Galaxy Eater. It was never used, as it developed a conscience and is said to need to be talked into going off, refusing to be used unless it is the literal only option. Legends state it was developed by the Other, which is honestly fairly on-brand for them. 

The final couplet, not a full stanza like the rest, is a more immediate sign for more insular societies, as well as a warning- if Zagreus is about, the skies will blaze and the stars will seem to burn brighter. 

There is one final, seventh, stanza that is only mentioned in one copy of the poem. As this copy was the most complete we found, it is being included in here. The narrator has switched tenses, referring to themselves instead of Zagreus in a distinct form. The first line states that the narrator is Zagreus, or perhaps is possessed by them. The second line puts the blame on Zagreus, although for what is unclear- maybe for some more local catastrophe using the narrator’s body. The third line is the most controversial, deeming Zagreus the Time Lord’s shame, perhaps blaming them for him. The fourth line implies the possession theory, that the narrator has been Zagreus’ host and prison for a time, and although he is escaping, he is not the only one at fault here. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still alive!!! 
> 
> No idea what's coming up next, but hopefully it'll not be a whole month before posting again. 
> 
> Let me know what you think, leave a comment or kudo, and/or an idea for what else to analyze!


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